UConn living dangerously

George Mason hopes out-of-whack Huskies show up again Sunday

WASHINGTON — George Mason's Cinderella ride to the Elite Eight may be the biggest story of the NCAA tournament, but it's not the biggest mystery.

That would be: Will the real Connecticut Huskies ever show up?

It's a question UConn coach Jim Calhoun admits he has been asked daily, since his team heads into Sunday's Washington regional final off three huge scares.

The Huskies were nearly eliminated twice in the first weekend, by 16th-seeded Albany and eighth-seeded Kentucky. Then they needed a miracle three-pointer by Rashad Anderson and overtime to survive the Washington 98-92 on Friday.

Their turnovers are up, their blocked shots and field-goal defense are down, and they've looked nothing like the Big East power that steamrolled through the regular season.

"Someone asked me, `When are we going to see the Connecticut we've heard about?'" Calhoun said. "Well, you have seen somewhat the Connecticut you've heard about being disrupted in the tournament. Because teams do catch up."

Maybe that's it. Or maybe, as junior guard Marcus Williams said, "Sometimes we think teams are going to lay down just because we're the No. 1 team in the country."

Whatever the reason, it's clear the top-seeded Huskies (30-3) have been living on the edge. They committed a season-high 26 turnovers against Washington, and were one late steal by Williams away from throwing the game away in the end.

Don't think the 11th-seeded Patriots (26-7) haven't noticed. The little Colonial Athletic Association team that could has started to believe in its Cinderella story, even if nobody else has. They'll be playing what amounts to a home game at the Verizon Center on Sunday, since their campus is just 20 miles away in Fairfax, Va.

And the small but speedy team thinks it has a chance to join the 1986 LSU Tigers as the lowest-seeded team to reach the Final Four.

"We didn't come this far just to settle," said senior guard Lamar Butler. "Nobody on this team wants to settle for the Elite Eight."